Chest 1935 - 1942

This drawing of a chest was made by Nicholas Gorid, a long-lived guy who was born in 1855. Look at the way the artist used simple lines and a warm color palette to depict this humble object. I can imagine Gorid carefully observing the details of the chest, trying to capture its essence on paper. There's a real sense of care and attention in the way he rendered the wood grain and the decorative carvings. It’s almost as if he wanted to honor the craftmanship and the history of the chest. And I am sure that he had to resolve some tensions – between flatness and depth, between the need to be realistic and the need to create an art object. The painting has a stillness, a quietness. Gorid's work reminds me that sometimes the most profound art can be found in the everyday, in the objects that surround us and the simple act of looking closely.